It wouldn’t be overly exaggerated to say that as a genre in of itself, horror has gotten something of a raw deal over the last half decade or so, especially when compared to other triple A areas like action-adventure and especially fps’s.
Indeed, there are a good many articles and online videos that wonder if it will survive at all.
Certainly, there have been a few games here and there, a Dead Space or a Dead Island, though they have tended to miss more than hit the mark, either becoming increasingly action-orientated to the detriment of any real ‘survival-horror’, or simply being action games with grotesque enemies in them.
In my view, however, we are on the brink of (if we have not already begun) a revival in the sector.
Amnesia was a smashing success met to critical acclaim, and the future looks good; it has a sequel incoming, Eternal Darkness (a Lovecraftian cult classic which inspired the former) looks like its getting a spiritual successor, Resident Evil Revelations is getting a port to consoles, and Shinji Mikami is returning to work his magic on the new project The Evil Within, to mention but a few developments.
The question is why are we experiencing this boom? I think that one of the reasons is that both developers and investors in games have realised that there is still a market for horror games as horror games.
Though the original Dead Space might not have been pure horror (compared to, say, the Fatal Frame series), it was still certainly a horror game, emphasising isolation, resource management and maintaining a strong sense of narrative, and managed to make a decent return.
Likewise Amnesia, made on far less of a budget, was popular not because of, say, outstanding Crysis level graphics or multiplayer, but precisely because it knew that it was horror and set out to be just that. Even Slender, with a virtually nonexistent story and poor graphics, has been a hit purely by dint of emphasising those key aspects of what makes horror of any medium successful – such as helplessness, a hostile environment, and a threat far greater than the protagonist.
It’s interesting to note that one of the biggest complaints about action games masquerading as horror – in particular, Resident Evil 5 and 6 – isn’t that the controls are bad or that the action isn’t satisfying; it’s that they have sacrificed everything that would make a game scary in favour of bland, shooter-orientated design.
A possible path this illuminates for gamers who want to see horror return is to show the industry that there is still a viable market for horror qua horror.
Purchasing selectively, and even looking further afield for smaller games that don’t require as much investment as triple A ones, and hence do not have to dilute the horror formula to see a return profit, will continue to show the gaming industry as a whole that the genre still has potential.
That, and buy The Evil Within when it comes out. Do it.
James Dyson
exeposedev 